We Are Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you've had a great holiday, we sure have around here! It's been a fairly low key day and aside from the Little One having a "tummy ache" for about 2 hours while my Mom & I finished cooking and throwing up once today we had a wonderful day! My poor baby felt just awful for a while, but somehow after she got sick she perked up and was her usual self for the rest of the day. She's always a trooper, sick or not. Sometimes we don't know how sick she is since she just doesn't complain or act "sick".

Anyway, my Mom & I cooked a huge spread for the 5 of us, and we had a really nice family dinner at our house. I didn't take many pictures because of the Little One not feeling well (and because I forgot before my parents left). Sorry!

The last day before Thanksgiving break at the Little One's school was their Thanksgiving Feast. The Hubby and I really enjoyed going and the food was great! They had the tables set up with a place setting for the kids with things they made at school. There was a placemat with a cornucopia they had cut out and put together and a quote of what they're thankful for on it. They also had a little cup "centerpiece" they made with flowers in it and a glitter leaf cup of butter mints, as well as a turkey napkin ring with handprint wings. It was TOO CUTE!

Oh, and this is her first "boyfriend"...not officially because he doesn't know, but they are so stinkin cute!

We have so.many.things to be Thankful for, and I know you do too! I am most thankful for a God who chose me to be His own, and that I have a home waiting in heaven. His blessings to me are so abundant and I am so undeserving! My wonderful husband, daughter, mother, father, in-laws and extended family are so precious to me! I see other people's dysfunctional families, and think to myself how truly blessed we are that the people we're close to come with little drama :) Don't get me wrong, we've got our crazies, but they don't come around (or we don't go around them) often!

I hope we all took some time to remember and tell others how thankful we are for them today!

3 month check-in

Yesterday I had my 3 month visit with my Oncologist to do bloodwork & feel for any new abnormalities. The CBC bloodwork came back "perfect" according to the Dr. but I find out the results of the rest of the tests (tumor markers being the most important) on Friday.
This is routine for me at this point so although it brings some anxiety with waiting, it's just regular I guess.
The reason I'm telling you this is really just to vent, but it's what's swimming around in my head right now.
After she checked me out we were talking about any current issues I'm experiencing & I asked what my original tumor marker was when I first came to her (with the tumor still in my breast & cancer in my lymph nodes). She tells me it was 19.6 & I asked what was normal range. She says "Anything under 38". SO...my tumor markers were normal then, but that's the only test you're doing now to determine if I have cancer again? Let me say that the 2 friends I have that are survivors also say their doctor does the same thing for them & they've always had normal tumor markers as well. I asked her what they're looking for in addition to that to see if I've had a recurrence. She says that they check my body for any signs of tumors and look at my bloodwork. Other than that, I just need to be diligent in letting her know if I'm having issues like headaches or bone pain. Well, seems to me that if either one of those things happen and it's due to cancer I either have a brain tumor or it's in my bones...doesn't sound promising!
She said she would order a PET Scan if anything came up, but they don't like to do that too often unless it's warranted because of the level of radiation. In the same breath she says "We still have to be very vigilant in watching you because the cells were grade 3, spreading quickly & your age also made it more agressive". Awesome. I just hate hearing that word "agressive", it's pretty ugly, ya know!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset with her & I know she's doing what is "standard procedure" but how scary is that? I feel like there's a chance that it could come back & be a lot worse than before without anyone knowing until it's really metastasised to an area where it's harder to find and therefore treat.
Another scary thing to me is that I pointed out to her that I never had a PET scan to begin with. I had an MRI & a CT scan which are considered acceptable in finding cancer, however, neither one picked up on the 3 lymph nodes that had cancerous cells in them. Again, scary!
I know I could (and do sometimes) work myself into a tizzy every single day worrying about it coming back & how I would know, etc. but I need to just give it to God...again! I do realize that He healed me once & I have full faith that it could happen again, I just struggle with fear and worry and I soooo hate that about myself! All I can do is pray though & trust that between myself & the 2 doctors I have frequent check-ins with, we'll know if there's a problem & be able to address it.

What a difference!

You may remember that last Halloween our family picture was of the adorable "Dorothy" from the Wizard of Oz, my handsome Hubby and me, cancer girl, with a scarf on my head because my hair had started falling out in huge clumps that week.

Here we are, in case you forgot!

Well, that same evening, after all the festivities were done & The Little One and her friend who stayed the night were fast asleep, my Mom shaved my head. That was more than a little tough, I'll admit. It wasn't nearly as bad as when it first started falling out, and I actually wish I had done it sooner to spare myself those horrible, helpless feelings. Anyway, I am actually going to post a bald pic so you can see how far God has brought me in a year! It's not slick bald, just right after my head was shaved. I still had eyelashes & eyebrows at this point so I don't look like a walking cancer billboard, just a girl with a shaved head...who would've NEVER chosen to do such a crazy thing!

This is a picture from this past Halloween. Praise God, I have a head FULL of hair!!!! It's curly & unruly & I don't know what in the world to do with it, but it's hair & I'm sooo thankful for it :)

What a difference a year makes, huh? I've come a LONG way & I am so very thankful and blessed to be where I am today, healthy and loving life! It's only by the grace of God, that's for sure!

Halloween Fun!

We had a fun-filled Halloween weekend to say the least! We started by buying and carving a pumpkin a few days before. Her school field trip to the Pumpkin Patch was cancelled due to the rain :-( and we had planned on getting a pumpkin at that time. Since that didn't work out, we decided to go to a pumpkin patch near our house and get one. They were almost out, so we got a fairly small one compared to years past & decided he would work (although she wasn't very happy with the whole situation)! We picked out a stencil online (which she LOVED searching through all the pictures and picking her own) and got to work!

Getting all the "Pumpkin Goop" Out

Carving the Pumpkin

She was so proud of her "Happy Pumpkin Face"

The Finished Product!

Thursday was "Orange Day" at her school where all the students wore orange and they had a party with special orange snacks. Here she is on her way to school in her cute pumpkin outfit.

Friday we started out the weekend with trick or treating on the square in a nearby town. We went with some friends & had a great time together!

The Toy Story Alien, Minnie Mouse & SuperGirl took time to pose for a picture!

SuperGirl to the rescue!!!

Silly Faces :-P

Saturday, we went to visit the Hubby's aunt and uncle where my in-laws were visiting for the night. The Little One stayed with them and went to a Fall Festival that evening while we went on a much needed date night!

We all enjoyed a wonderful meal & then went to play on the playground
while the men watched football!


Playing football with Daddy


Ready to go to the Festival :)

Sunday was Halloween & we went to the Fall Festival at the church where the Little One goes to school before trick-or-treating. It was a great time for all of us!

Halloween night finally came, and we had friends and family over to eat and trick-or-treat with us! Our neighborhood and the one beside us is usually packed with families and kids everywhere, but this year it was kind of a let down. I think with all the confusion of doing it on Saturday or Sunday it was just messed up for the poor kids! We still had fun (and got lots of exercise walking) but the kids didn't get to do as much door to door as usual.

Gammy & G-Daddy came to see their little SuperGirl in costume!

Can we puh-lease go trick-or-treating now?!!!

Even the dogs in our neighborhood got dressed up!

Gracie was the cutest little bee & Knox was a pumpkin :)

The spoils of the evening! At least they ended up getting lots of candy!

So that was our fun-filled busy Halloween weekend! Hope you had fun, too! :)

You have to see this!

This is an amazing new documentary filmed about Breast Cancer in young women done by a local organization and video company. It was an honor for my precious Hubby to be a part of the filming, and the 3 stories (One survivor, one newly diagnosed survivor & one precious lady who lost her battle) are very emotional but all too real...Don't go to this website unless you have a tissue in your hand. Seriously!

http://www.threeshadesofpink.com/

First School Picture

I can't believe how old my Little Princess looks in her very first school picture! The Mother of the Year forgot it was picture day (it was a Monday, and I just didn't think of it that morning) and sent her to school in a t-shirt and shorts with sandals. Well, as soon as I remembered they had pictures, I rushed to the school with new clothes, hair stuff and some dress shoes! Thankfully, I made it in time, and the picture came out precious!
I would've felt really bad if my kid was the only one in the class picture not dressed up and cute, can you imagine?! :)

Think Pink!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month & I've had a busy but fun month! I went to a nice Pink Ribbon Breakfast locally that was for survivors and supporters. My breast specialist spoke there, and brought everyone to tears of course, there was an awesome singer (that was an American Idol contestant a while back) who sang a few songs, and a breast cancer survivor that has written a book and several poems about her journey shared with us, as well as hearing from other survivors and getting a great message of Hope for the future!

Me & Jaime with the ah-mazing breast specialist, Dr. T

Me & Jaime with my ah-mazing breast specialist's precious wife!

My Oncologist, Dr. S :)

Survivors at the Pink Ribbon Breakfast

Later that week, I was invited to speak to a group of young professionals in our county about my story, and an encouragement for other women to do their self exams. I was soooo nervous, and I stood there shaking, holding back tears the entire time, but thankfully I didn't pass out or get sick! I was so grateful for the opportunity to share my story because I'm very passionate about the cause, obviously, but also because I think that Breast Cancer is thought of as "your mother's disease" and not something that can or will happen to younger women. I am a living breathing example that it can and does happen, so hopefully those young women went home and did their self exams if nothing else!

My sweet Mom, Hubby, Brother-in-Law & several friends came to support me!

Most of the attendees of the Young Professionals "Go Pink" meeting!

My Mom's work had a day where the entire company "went pink" for BC Awareness, and each branch did their own thing to raise money and awareness for the disease. They are in the medical field, and I was blessed to be able to use them for getting my Neupagin (sp?) injections at home so I didn't have to go to the hospital 3 days in a row after chemo every single time to keep my blood counts up between treatments. They were wonderful, and supplied my injections as well as sending a nurse out to draw my blood and take it to the lab every week or two. My Mom invited me as their survivor happy face :) and I enjoyed doing a walk with them and having lunch.

I have a pic with the Clinical Pharmacist that was so precious to me and helped me a lot with crazy questions through my treatment, but it will NOT load & it's making me crazy! I wish I could share it since she was very helpful through everything too!

One of the ladies that works with my Mom made these beautiful and SO, SO delicious cupcakes!

Last week I also attended a new start up support group for young survivors that was great! There were 6 other young survivors (under 40) in attendance, and then there were 2 "mature survivors" there for the first meeting who were a ray of sunshine! One is a 14 year survivor, and one a 27 year survivor. It was great to talk to them openly and share with other women who "get it". Also, it was nice to talk to a newly diagnosed patient, and give her some hope that there IS life during and after treatment, you've just gotta get through one day at a time.

As breast cancer awareness month comes to a close, I hope the light doesn't fade, and breast cancer awareness continues. I know people probably get tired of hearing about it, and it is thought of as a "better" type of cancer to have...NEVER say that to anyone, by the way! Trust me, until you hear the words "You have Cancer", you can't understand that any cancer is thought of in the mind of the patient as a death sentence. My point is (sorry for the rant) that the reason breast cancer gets so much attention is that it's so common among women (and men aren't immune) so we have to be vigilant to take care of our own health and do self exams...they SAVE LIVES!!!!!